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[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 90 (Wednesday, May 9, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 27267-27269]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-11105]

[[Page 27267]]

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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Office of the Secretary

[Docket No. DOT-OST-2012-0028]

Submission of U.S. Carrier and Airport Tarmac Delay Contingency 
Plans to Department of Transportation for Approval

AGENCY: Office of the Secretary (OST), Department of Transportation 
(DOT).

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012 requires covered 
U.S. carriers and U.S. airports to submit to the Secretary of 
Transportation for review and approval tarmac delay contingency plans 
on or before May 14, 2012. This document provides information on how 
covered U.S. carriers and airports can submit the required plans to the 
U.S. Department of Transportation's Office of Aviation Enforcement and 
Proceedings (Enforcement Office) through the World Wide Web, and 
addresses frequently asked questions about the applicability of the 
statutory provisions.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Livaughn Chapman, Jr., or Laura 
Jennings, Office of the General Counsel, U.S. Department of 
Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Ave. SE., W-96-429, Washington, DC 
20590-0001; Phone: (202) 366-9342; Fax: (202) 366-7152; Email: 
Livaughn.Chapman@dot.gov, or Laura.Jennings@dot.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    On February 14, 2012, President Obama signed the FAA Modernization 
and Reform Act of 2012 (the ``Act'') into law. Among other things, the 
Act requires U.S. carriers that operate scheduled passenger service or 
public charter service using any aircraft with a design capacity of 30 
or more seats, and operators of large hub, medium hub, small hub, or 
non-hub U.S. airports, to submit contingency plans for lengthy tarmac 
delays to the Secretary of Transportation for review and approval no 
later than May 14, 2012. The Act also requires each covered carrier and 
airport to ensure public access to its plan after DOT approval by 
posting the plan on its Web site.
    The requirements of the Act do not conflict with the Department's 
existing tarmac delay rule (14 CFR part 259). The Act also permits the 
Department to establish, as necessary, minimum standards for 
contingency plans. As such, the specific requirements of Part 259 
remain in effect for U.S. and foreign air carriers.
    Under the Act and existing DOT rules, U.S. carrier contingency 
plans must contain a provision that a passenger shall have the option 
to deplane an aircraft and return to the airport terminal when there is 
an excessive tarmac delay (3 hours for domestic flights and 4 hours for 
international flights) at each large hub, medium hub, small hub, or 
non-hub U.S. airport at which they operate scheduled or public charter 
air service, with the following exceptions: (1) Where an air traffic 
controller with authority over the aircraft advises the pilot in 
command that permitting a passenger to deplane would significantly 
disrupt airport operations; or (2) where the pilot in command 
determines that permitting a passenger to deplane would jeopardize 
passenger safety or security. The deplaning option also must be offered 
to a passenger if the flight in covered air transportation is diverted 
to a commercial airport other than the originally scheduled airport. 
Under the Act, U.S. carrier contingency plans must also contain a 
description of how the carrier will: (1) Provide adequate food, potable 
water, restroom facilities, comfortable cabin temperatures, and access 
to medical treatment for passengers onboard an aircraft when the 
departure of a flight is delayed or disembarkation of passengers is 
delayed; and (2) share facilities and make gates available at the 
airport in an emergency. Existing DOT rules require carriers to provide 
assurance that the plan has been coordinated with airport authorities 
(including terminal facility operators where applicable), U.S. Customs 
and Border Protection and the Transportation Security Administration at 
each U.S. large hub airport, medium hub airport, small hub airport and 
non-hub airport that the carriers serve, as well as their regular U.S. 
diversion airports. It should be noted that, unlike the Act, DOT rules 
do not currently require sharing of facilities and gates or comfortable 
cabin temperature. The DOT rules will be modified in the future to 
reflect these new requirements as well as the new requirements relating 
to airports.
    Under the Act, airport contingency plans must contain a description 
of how the airport operator, to the maximum extent practicable, will: 
(1) Provide for the deplanement of passengers following excessive 
tarmac delays; (2) provide for the sharing of facilities and make gates 
available at the airport in an emergency; and (3) provide a sterile 
area following excessive tarmac delays for passengers who have not yet 
cleared U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
    The Enforcement Office has established a Web address for the filing 
of contingency plans at http://filingtarmacdelayplan.dot.gov, similar 
to the Department's current disability complaint reporting system, to 
enable covered U.S. airlines and airports to easily submit their 
required plans through the World Wide Web. Carriers must use this 
system to submit their plans rather than sending the plans to the 
Department by mail or email. In order to use the tarmac delay plan 
filing system, covered U.S. airlines and airports will need to register 
on the Web site before they can upload their plans to the system. To 
register, click on the hyperlink titled ``Create Account to Submit 
Tarmac Delay Contingency Plan'' in the blue sign-in box on the home 
page, select the registration type (i.e., Airline or Airport), select 
your airline or airport name from the dropdown list, click continue, 
and then simply fill in and submit the following registration 
information: Representative Name; Representative Title; Telephone 
Number; and Email address. Carriers and airports may also choose to 
enter additional contact information (i.e., address, city state, zip 
and country), and any comments. If your airline or airport name is not 
listed in the dropdown list, click the ``CLICK HERE'' hyperlink under 
the dropdown list, and on the landing page, select the registration 
type (i.e., Airline or Airport), enter the Airline/Airport Code and 
Name in the appropriate fields, and click the ``Submit'' button. 
Airlines/airports will then be able to fill in and submit the 
registration information.
    Each airline/airport representative will be assigned a unique 
username and password after DOT has verified the authenticity of the 
registered airline/airport representative, which may take up to three 
days. This step is necessary to ensure that only authorized users can 
submit information. We encourage each covered airline/airport to 
register with the Web site as soon as possible so that the airline/
airport representative receives a username and password from DOT in 
advance of May 14, 2012, the date by which covered U.S. airlines/
airports are required to submit their plans.
    Once an airline/airport representative receives a username and 
password from DOT, that representative will be able to access the Web 
site, upload their plan and submit it for approval electronically. 
Airline/airport representatives may also change their username or 
password and modify their contact information. To change a username or 
password, the representative would login with the

[[Page 27268]]

given username and password, mouse over the ``Account Management'' tab 
in the blue bar at the top of the screen, and then click on the 
``Change Password'' link. Similarly, an airline/airport representative 
could modify his/her contact information by clicking on the ``Update 
Account'' link in the ``Account Management'' tab.
    After logging into the system, clicking on the ``Submit New Plan'' 
button will take the airline/airport representative to a screen where 
he/she can begin the contingency plan submission process. At this 
point, an airline/airport representative has the option of either 
choosing the system-generated title for the plan or entering his/her 
own title for the plan in the ``Submission Title'' field. Clicking on 
the ``Create New Plan Submission'' button will then take the airline/
airport representative to a screen where he/she can upload the plan 
document, enter comments and submit the plan to DOT for approval. To 
upload a tarmac delay plan document, enter a title for the document in 
the ``Document Title'' field, then click the ``Browse'' button in the 
``File'' field, select the appropriate file, and click ``Add New 
Document'' to upload the selected file into the system. Airlines/
airports may upload multiple documents. When an airline/airport 
representative finishes uploading his/her document(s), he/she should 
check the certification box after reading and acknowledging the legal 
certification statement prior to clicking the ``Submit for Approval'' 
button. After submission, the documents will be forwarded to DOT for 
review.
    If, after submitting a plan for approval, an airline or airport 
determines that it is necessary to remove their plan and submit a 
replacement plan for approval, the airline/airport representative 
should resubmit their replacement plan under the original Submission 
Title by clicking ``Resubmit This Entry'' after logging back into the 
system and then upload the revised plan using the uploading procedures 
noted above. Similarly, if after submission DOT requires changes to an 
airline/airport's plan, the airline/airport representative should make 
the requisite changes and submit the revised plan under the original 
Submission Title by clicking ``Resubmit This Entry.''

Frequently Asked Questions

    Since President Obama signed the FAA Modernization and Reform Act 
of 2012 into law on February 14, 2012, a number of airline and airport 
representatives have asked for clarification or interpretation of the 
text of the Act. These clarifications and interpretations have been 
disseminated primarily through informal conversations or emails between 
DOT staff and individual airport or airline representatives. The 
Department believes that the guidance provided to these airline and 
airport representatives may also be of interest to other members of the 
public. To ensure that this guidance will be more accessible to the 
public, and to ensure that the tarmac delay contingency plan submission 
requirements of the Act will be more readily understandable, we are 
including frequently asked questions and DOT responses below regarding 
the tarmac delay contingency plan submission requirements of the Act.
    1. Question: Which airports must submit tarmac delay contingency 
plans for review and approval?
    Answer: The Act requires operators of large hub, medium hub, small 
hub, or non-hub commercial U.S. airports, to submit a contingency plan 
for lengthy tarmac delays to the Secretary of Transportation for review 
and approval. In defining the hub size of an airport, the Department 
uses the airport-specific thresholds published by the Department's 
Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS). A large hub airport means an 
airport accounting for at least 1.00 percent of the total enplanements 
in the United States. A medium hub airport means an airport accounting 
for at least 0.25 percent but less than 1.00 percent of the total 
enplanements in the United States. A small hub airport means an airport 
accounting for at least 0.05%, but less than 0.25% of the total 
enplanements in the United States. A non-hub airport means an airport 
accounting for enplanements of more than 10,000 passengers but less 
than 0.05% of the total enplanements in the United States. A list of 
airport information for calendar year 2010 (the latest available data) 
is available on the FAA's Web site at http://www.faa.gov/airports/planning_capacity/passenger_allcargo_stats/passenger/media/cy10_primary_enplanements.pdf.
    2. Question: Does DOT have a sample of an approved tarmac delay 
contingency plan or a model tarmac delay contingency plan that airports 
can use as a guide in developing their own plan?
    Answer: Carriers and airports are directed to the model contingency 
planning document, titled ``Development of Contingency Plans for 
Lengthy Airline On-Board Ground Delays,'' that was developed by the 
Department's National Task Force to Develop Model Contingency Plans to 
Deal with Lengthy Airline On-Board Ground Delays for contingency 
planning guidance. See Docket No. DOT-OST-2007-0108-0124. This document 
can also be found at http://airconsumer.dot.gov/publications/TarmacTFModelContingencyPlanningDocument.pdf. We also understand that 
Airports Council International--North America and the American 
Association of Airport Executives have developed a template that 
airports can use as a reference. Airports can contact those 
organizations for further information. The Airport Cooperative Research 
Program (ACRP) has developed some guidance materials in this area as 
well. Those materials can be found at http://www.trb.org/ACRP/Blurbs/166569.aspx. Due to the varying nature and requirements of each 
airport, however, DOT does not plan to publish a sample of an approved 
tarmac delay contingency plan. Covered airlines and airports are 
required to post a copy of their approved contingency plan on their Web 
site.
    3. Question: Many airports have developed comprehensive irregular 
operations plans that deal with issues outside of the requirements of 
the Act. Should carriers submit those plans?
    Answer: Airports are free to submit plans that cover more than the 
statutory requirements of the Act; however, they are not required to do 
so. The Department's review of airport contingency plans will 
concentrate on the statutory requirements for such plans.
    4. Question: Are covered U.S. carriers required to submit separate 
airport-specific, station-level contingency plans for each airport that 
they serve?
    Answer: The Act requires each covered U.S. carrier to submit a plan 
for each covered airport but does not prohibit a carrier from doing so 
through the submission of one overarching tarmac delay plan covering 
all of the carrier's operations that contains the requisite assurances 
required by the statute. Of course, airlines are also free to submit 
separate airport-specific, station-level plans if they prefer.
    5. Question: Does the requirement for air carriers to submit tarmac 
delay contingency plans apply to foreign flag carriers?
    Answer: No. The statutory requirement for air carriers to submit 
tarmac delay contingency plans does not apply to foreign flag carriers. 
The statutory requirement for air carriers to submit tarmac delay 
contingency plans applies only to U.S. air carriers that operate at 
least one aircraft with a design seat capacity of 30 or more passenger 
seats.

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    Issued This 2nd Day of May 2012, at Washington, DC.
Blane A. Workie,
Deputy Assistant General Counsel for Aviation Enforcement and 
Proceedings, U.S. Department of Transportation.
[FR Doc. 2012-11105 Filed 5-8-12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-9X-P
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